An apparatus of this kind is known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,748,793. It comprises a forked winding mandrel which is rotatable about its longitudinal axis and into the gap of which a newspaper is introduced and aligned against stops. A delivery device for feeding a wrapping in sheet form is disposed above the winding mandrel. This device comprises a swivelably mounted feed arm which introduces the edge portion of a sheeting web, wound off from a supply reel, from above into the gap between the mutually facing parts of the newspaper, which has already been partly rolled up. The sheeting web is then rolled up together with the newspaper while a desired tension is built up and maintained in the sheeting by means of a pair of dancing rollers. When the newspaper has been completely rolled up, the sheeting web is further wound around the roll and, as the feed arm is swung back, the sheeting web is cut through by means of a heating wire, so that the rolled-up end portion forms a wrapping for the printed product. The regions of the sheeting which overlap adhere automatically to one another and hold the roll together. Finally, in order to separate the wrapped roll from the winding mandrel, pressure rollers pressing the newspaper against the mandrel during the rolling are swiveled away from the roll and the latter is pulled off the winding mandrel in the axial direction. This known apparatus requires manual operation and has a long cycle time.
The object underlying the present invention is therefore that of further developing the apparatus of the type defined, in such a manner that, while having a short cycle time, it can be operated entirely automatically.